The Evangelical Divide Over Religion in Politics

[Music] this is one of the biggest Christian right conventions in the lead-up to the midterms there are powerful religious leaders politicians like Paul Ryan Ted Cruz Marco Rubio who are here speaking but also strategizing how to mobilize fast in the lead-up to 2018 returns last 15 months have been the single best period for conservative values since I came to Washington back in 1985 he is on track to be the most pro-life president in American history we must continue to defend religious liberty that's why this year's midterm elections are so important and we're just getting going the Faith and Freedom Coalition is the brainchild of Ralph Reed he was that of the Christian Coalition in the 90s which helped shape evangelicals into a formidable voting bloc they led the Christian Right in mobilizing around 4 million faith-based voters despite making up just 17 percent of the u.s. population today white evangelical voters of 26 percent of the electorate we met up with Virginia Galloway who leads the Faith and Freedom Coalition voter outreach across the south you look like a very nice church-going ladies because I know that you're a killer when it comes to mobilizing voters well yes that's what we do as a regional feel director in Georgia what exactly do you do to get people to vote ok well we have these great voter guides that I really love we take this we hang it on doors it's got a little handy dandy door hanger the interesting thing is you can get these away in churches because they don't tell you who to vote for their education only it seems like everybody media included focus on president Trump's morality what are they missing about what evangelicals want policy good policy what are sort of the top areas that evangelicals care about well certainly pro-life is one of those things and he's been strong on for life Jerusalem was huge yeah that was great how about the appointment of some conservative judges right Supreme Court justice and maybe one more before long we don't know huh people that are here are very enthusiastic and excited about what they're hearing it helps them see that the way they vote makes a difference white evangelicals account for a third of Republican voters and the Faith and Freedom Coalition is targeting them in the 2018 midterms nearly doubling what they spent in the 2016 elections a key part of that funding goes towards training volunteers in small towns right outside of Atlanta at a little bakery here we're meeting back up with Virginia Galloway she's training a group of volunteers on how to mobilize voters and the lead-up to the midterms why are you out oh excuse me ma'am do you live here here I live here what are you doing on my porch this voter guide might be very useful to you if you notice that you make good that's what I want well ma'am I can't support any individual candidate but we want you to support who you want and this just basically tell I will oh good job Fran let's get Fred of hand he handled that very well he's doing his job didn't he but that very like he was being conciliatory he wasn't scared off every time I knock on the door I take a step back why it's intimidating to them if you're like right up in your face cultural changes that you're seeing in our country concern you oh the violence the vagina hats the nastiness the threats on an open public stage people are frightened and it's very challenging when you're coming at it from a Christians perspective to show the love of Christ in that environment and yet it is necessary I bet all of you here don't go to the same church right that's a great thing because that gives your chapter outreach to different churches that then can go to the pastor and say can we give out voter guides that are perfectly sized to fit inside your bulletin [Music] evangelicals may have voted for Trump in strong numbers but at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention his administration's close ties to the evangelical community came into question [Music] 160 first session of the Southern Baptist Convention is now in order during the meeting representatives of the 15 million members denomination vote on a variety of issues before this year's meeting leaders unexpectedly announced that vice president Mike Pence would be speaking which was controversial several church representatives even tried to block pence by bringing up motions for a vote we send a mixed message to our members suggesting that to be faithful to the gospel we ought to align with a particular administration brothers and sisters right now there is a world fill that people who are going to hell and what we need to be about is the gospel and anything that can distort that to step backward and not a step forward thank you let me be clear the Southern Baptist Convention aligns itself with no political party our loyalty is to king jesus the king of kings and Lord of lords we strongly urge the messengers to extend a biblical christ-like welcome to the vice president of the United States thank you [Applause] you favor this amendment please raise your ballot if you're opposed to this amendment please raise your ballot the negative has it and the amendment fails God doesn't require us to be a part of political agendas and movements there's an administration right now where there's there's lots of heats and associating with it right now I think can be confusing about what we're all really about as the first day of the conference came to an end we talked to a member of Donald Trump's evangelical advisory board Richard land frankly mr. Trump has done better than I thought he would mrs. Clinton said that the right to abortion was sacred it was sacrosanct people who disagreed with that were going to have to be forced to change their minds 81% of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump at least 50% of those weren't voting for Donald Trump they were going against Hillary Clinton in a fallen sinful world sometimes I'm forced to choose between the lesser of two evils and if I don't choose the lesser evil then I become morally responsible for helping the greater evil to prevail when Trump's team asked me to join his evangelical advisory board I said now you do understand he was my last choice in the primaries and they said what is your first piece of advice to pick Mike Pence Mike is the 24 karat gold model of what evangelicals believe an evangelical politician should be around a third of the representatives voted against Pence addressing the SBC leaving some pastors to sit out of his speech altogether Southern Baptists would you give a warm Southern Baptist well vice president Mike you're more than 47,000 churches minister to more than 15 million people and millions more beyond your walls and as I stand before you today I believe that our nation is in the midst of a new beginning of greatness in America it's been 500 days of promises made and promises caps [Applause] well evangelicals here felt pretty delighted about the vice-president coming to speech they're giving him a big apology standing ovations for all the successes in sort of advertising last year they may be funding Planned Parenthood miss Abbott we haven't really I'll make you promise this president this vice president and our administration will always stand with you I think this should be a time of lament and repentance and hope for what God might do in our future personally I thought it was a bad move but that's not what the majority thought Matt Chandler is the lead pastor at a mega church outside of Dallas and is considered a rising star among young evangelical leaders can we agree that President Trump isn't of the utmost moral character like our people arguing other than that to me evangelicals prioritize morality and yet they played a huge part in getting him elected yeah how did that happen I think people are frightened I think they're frightened at this speed at which things are changing culturally the the Obama presidency agreements some of his policies in some of the ways he rolled out his policies really really scared evangelicals and the news media just whipped us into a frenzy yeah and and made people feel desperate the Southern Baptist Convention lost a million members in the last decade alone but some churches are trying to engage this changing culture rather than combat it Chandler has seen his weekly attendance grow by nearly a thousand people a year over the past decade he invited us to visit his churches less than traditional location not what I expected the village church to look like we are not in a village or a town square we are in a shopping center kind of looks more like a Costco or a target sandwiched between Starbucks and Wendy's but there are more than 10,000 congregants that come to the village church [Music] [Music] how do you think Democrats in media have isolated evangelicals and where could they do better to be more inclusive I think some of the blind spots on the left is that the left specifically city left feels like the country is more progressive than it actually is and the more it presses the more it makes conservatives dig in their heels when the bathroom bill passed people were terrified that made them go whoever the opposition is to that I'm voting for how do you think the evangelical community will be different in ten years versus ten years ago for some people evangelicalism now is like a political party divorced from its you know theological roots you're gonna see what we've already seen probably three or four times in Christian history there are going to be those that try to reach the world by becoming like the world and then they're gonna be those that try to by the grace of God hold fast to Orthodox Christian faith and that kind of rigid non compassionate angry group I hope dies out just goes homes you know you can certainly see that evangelicalism is fracturing not sure what it'll look like when it all settles down but evangelicalism in its current form will vanish and no doubt about it I don't think it can survive you you

Channel: VICE News

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Keywords: evangelical christians, VICE News, VICE News Tonight, VICE on HBO, news, vice video, bible belt, Gianna Toboni, mitch mcconnell, american piety, faith and freedom coalition, Faith and freedom coalition trump, donald trump, Republican strategy, Marco Rubio, faith & freedom coalition 2019, Trump administration, foreign policy, american politics, Evangelical Vote, Trump evangelical, Jerry falwell jr

Id: 5qWT_ok_17o

Length: 12min 24sec (744 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 08 2020